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Hot Rocks and Not-So-Hot Rocks on the Seashore: Patterns and Body-Size Dependent Consequences of Microclimatic Variation in Intertidal Zone Boulder Habitat.

ABSTRACT: Microclimatic variation has emerged as an important driver of many ecological and evolutionary processes. Nonetheless, fine-scale temperature data are still rare in most habitats, limiting our ability to understand the consequences of microclimatic variation under current and future conditions. We measured fine-scale thermal variation in a common, species-rich, but rarely studied habitat with respect to temperature: the airspaces under rocks on intertidal zone boulder shores. The effects of thermal variation were investigated using physiological, behavioral, and demographic responses of the porcelain crab Petrolisthes cinctipes. Habitat temperatures were measured at fine spatial and temporal resolution over 18 months, producing 424,426 temperature records. Microclimatic variation increased with increasing intertidal elevation, particularly with respect to heat extremes. However, mean temperatures were similar across the entire intertidal zone. Overheating risk for P. cinctipes increases with intertidal elevation but is size dependent, as large animals are more heat sensitive than small animals. Still, microclimatic variation high in the intertidal zone provided thermal refugia even under the warmest conditions. Size-dependent thermal responses predicted that large crabs should be rare high in the intertidal zone, which was supported by demographic data. Furthermore, simulations parameterized by our microclimate and organismal data recapitulated demographic patterns. Therefore, interactions between microclimatic variation and size-dependent thermal responses may have significant ecological repercussions that warrant greater attention.

SUBMITTER: Gunderson AR

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7671146 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Project description:Nitrospina bacteria are among the most important nitrite oxidizers in coastal and open-ocean environments, but the relevance of the genus contrasts with the scarceness of information on their ecophysiology and habitat range. Thus far, Nitrospina bacteria have been the only nitrite oxidizers detected at high abundance in Chilean coastal waters. These levels are often higher than at other latitudes. In this study, the abundance of 16S-rRNA gene transcripts of Nitrospina (hereafter just transcripts) was measured by reverse transcription quantitative PCR in a rocky intertidal gradient and compared with the nearshore counterpart off central Chile (~33°S). Rocky pond transcripts were also compared with the taxonomic composition of the macrobiota and bacterioplankton (by 16S-rRNA gene-based T-RFLP) in the intertidal gradient. Transcripts increased from warmer, saltier, and low-nitrite ponds in the upper intertidal zone (19.5 ± 1.6°C, 39.0 ± 1.0 psu, 0.98 ± 0.17 μmol/L) toward cooler, less salty, and high-nitrite ponds (17.8 ± 2.6°C, 37.7 ± 0.82 psu, 1.23 ± 0.21 μmol/L) from middle and low zones. These varied from ~1,000 up to 62,800 transcripts. This increasing trend in the number of transcripts toward the lower zone was positively associated with the Shannon's diversity index for the macrobiota (r = .81, p < .01). Moreover, an important increase in the average number of transcripts was observed in ponds with a greater number of fish in the upper (7,846 transcripts during 2013) and lower zones (62,800 transcripts during 2015). Altogether, intertidal and nearshore transcripts were significantly correlated with nitrite concentrations (r = .804, p ˂ .01); rocky pond transcripts outnumbered nearshore ones by almost two orders of magnitude. In summary, rocky ponds favored both the presence and activity of Nitrospina bacteria that are tolerant to environmental stress. This in turn was positively influenced by the presence of ammonia- or urea-producing macrobiota.

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Hot Rocks and Not-So-Hot Rocks on the Seashore: Patterns and Body-Size Dependent Consequences of Microclimatic Variation in Intertidal Zone Boulder Habitat.

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